Thursday, 26 May 2016

Days 55 + 56 / first 3 rounds of the Rhein-Main Open

It´s always DARKEST before the dawn

Ok, this is it: I have reached a new record LOW! I can only hope that things will not go deeper from this point onwards: 0,5 out of 3 --- against an average opponent´s rating of 1800.
Want to see my most shameful performance EVER? Ready to face it - but beware: I can´t guarantee that this louzy wanna-be chess will mark off...

First round (after 5 - yes five - hours of driving and 4,5 hours of work prior to the ride) - look at this:
Up to this point - ignoring that it took me much too much time, I made almost everything right (I even allowed an exchange of queens resulting in a double f-pawn - which I correctly assumed to be more of an asset that a lame duck). Actually, I saw/calculated this variation already at the point where the exchange of queens was offered!

Now, at move 16 and with 17 minutes left on the clock, I accepted a draw. I did so, because I was NOT able to understand/"read" the position correctly: I knew I have to take the b-pawn, which he will take back with his a-pawn. After Rc1, he has d5 --- and now I stopped thinking properly, ignoring his massive weakness on the c-file which more than outweighs the circumstance that my bishop on g2 lost some of its power. I accepted the draw...

But wait - I still can do better!!!

Round two
I am Black - I played a miserable opening (didn´t have a clue about this one at all); so my opponent simply deserved to reach a very comfortable position - sometimes up to +1.5 for him. He offered a draw when he was 0,5 better (and where I was left with 7 minutes for 26 moves). I declined! (Because I don´t really care anymore about rating points and I somewhat felt that I will get my chance.) And, indeed, I got it:

You think the above position cannot result in a loss for a guy with rating of around 2050 - so would I!!

But I managed!

Round three
I am White - with a comfortable plus of 2.2 (I actually stayed in a range of plus 0,3 to 1.2 starting from around move 10):

And here is the position where I resigned as soon as my opponent took on g3 - can you spot what´s going on? This is so embarrasing... 8-(

In all - really all of the above matches I was in serious time-trouble already around move 7 or 15 (latest)!

It´s always darkest before the dawn - man, I can only hope that I did reach this point today!